Lori Henshaw
This page is for the G.I. Joe Air Force pilot. For the Decepticon briefly known as Banshee, see Nightshade. A third-generation U.S. Air Force pilot, Lori Henshaw is known to be practical, analytical and methodical. She is brave, loyal and dedicated to her job and country, as well as to her family, friends and comrades. A test pilot for a classified fighter project, Lori was accepted into the ranks of G.I. Joe. Since then, she’s been through plenty: a number of combat flight missions, two near-death experiences, and being kidnapped and experimented upon by a rogue Cybertronian scientist. The last is part of what makes Lori so valuable: she now possesses two armored forms, each capable of supersonic flight and possessing an assortment of integrated alien weaponry. She recently took on the new callsign GUARDIAN for both her piloting and human-sized armored form, while her larger armored form is designated NOVA. While intelligent and resourceful, she is a woman caught between two vastly different worlds, and there’s no telling what the future may hold. History Canonical/Pre-MUX/Theme History: Lori Henshaw is a third-generation Air Force pilot. Shortly after earning her officer's commission as a second lieutenant, Lori was assigned as the pilot for the Lockheed-Martin F-37 Talon project -- a project that had recently been discovered by the Autobots during their search for a new jet mode for their injured comrade Phoenix. During testing, Lori was informed that she had been selected to join GI Joe -- which unfortunately meant that she wouldn't be flying the Talon project as much as before, given the nature of her new assignment. Still, however, Lori has managed to serve, if not exceptionally, at least with some distinction between her duties at the PIT and her work at Lockheed-Martin. MUX History: Since most pilots are officers, Guardian (then Banshee) was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. She was active in the Joes during the World-wide flooding of 2011, helping with SAR efforts around the globe. In 2019 Lori dramatically re-appeared, defending Earth from a Decepticon blockade. She was promoted to O-2 (1st Lieutenant). After being attacked by a Dire Wraith, she cocooned herself in the Pit brig. When Lori emerged, she revealed herself as a new human/Cybertronian/Dire Wraith hybrid, and took the name Guardian. Volunteering for a visit to Cybertron, Lori was disheartened by the Autobots' reaction to her new nature. She left Cybertron soon thereafter. In November 2019, Guardian was part of a joint G.I. Joe-Autobot defense of the South Pole of Cybertron from a Dire Wraith invasion -- the same invasion that revealed the existence of another Dire Wraith hybrid life-form. Ripped to pieces by several Dire Wraith shock troops, she was left where she fell for several days before finally being removed to Iacon to revive her. That was apparently the breaking point, not only in her relations with G.I. Joe, but also the Autobots; in early December 2019, Lori Henshaw resigned her commission from the US Air Force and left G.I. Joe. Her current whereabouts are unknown. OOC Notes Lori's original callsign, Banshee, came about in part because of the volume she liked to listen to music while in flight... and in part because of the sounds made as a result of the near-unimaginable stresses she's been able to put several aircraft through during her time in the Air Force. The switch to Guardian was Lori's choice after emerging from the cocoon in which she'd been contained as a result of the "infection" of Dire Wraith DNA into her human/Cybertronian hybrid form. Logs/Posts 2011 May 08 - Medical Prognosis - Banshee TO: G.I. Joe Command Staff, G.I. Joe Air Assets CO / XO FROM: Doc Greer SUBJECT: Medical Prognosis - Banshee Second Lieutenant Lori Henshaw has recently awoken from her coma, the result of injuries sustained when a Cobra Night Raven's heat-seeking missiles targeted the engines of her Conquest X-30 while preparing for liftoff during Cobra's attack on Fort Hood and the Pit in August of last year. The prognosis, however, is concerning: microscopic shrapnel traces are still lodged in her chest, dangerously close to her lungs and heart. Courtesy of G.I. Jane, an electromagnet breastplate is holding the shrapnel in place, but it is rather bulky and unwieldy. While she seems stable from a medical standpoint, there are concerns that she may have psychological trauma as a result of her near-death experience, although she is doing her best to hide it. I would suggest that Psyche-Out conduct a psychiatric evaluation as soon as possible. Regardless of those findings, I fear that further military duty will not be an option for her, and that proceedings for a medical discharge will be called for in the near future. Currently, Lt. Henshaw is recovering at the Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center, Lackland AFB, Texas - it was the closest facility for medical treatment following the attack on Fort Hood, and given the severity of her injuries, moving her was out of the question. Her mobility is currently limited, due to the electromagnetic breastplate, but G.I. Jane has developed a specialized wheelchair that incorporates the breastplate functions. Visitors might do her some good; her family is present and supportive, but a sign of support from those she served with may help to raise her spirits during this troubled time. Aug 04 - AAR: Northwest United States << text-only report >> At the request of Scarlett -- Medical, do take it easy on her for relaying the message -- I took an Osprey to coordinates marked by Coldshot for a bombing run. What I discovered wasn't pretty -- some Autobot spider tank looked like it got ripped up pretty badly, and Coldshot... well, I don't know what her status is. She looked very bad, though. Kamakura helped to scramble a medical team for retrieval -- I don't have any significant medical training, and without knowing how bad her injuries really are, I didn't dare try to move her. I'll let Medical make their own report on that. "I did, however, wait long enough for the Autobots to retrieve their spider-tank companion -- not sure what his name was, but he claimed that he used to be some sort of cyborg originally before becoming an Autobot. If there's any more information needed, I'll try to provide it, but I didn't have very much to go on last night, and Coldshot was quite unresponsive in that regard, given her energies. Banshee out." Aug 16 - Inland Evacuation << text-only message sent to the Pit >> New Orleans has been mostly taken care of now -- I feel for the Big Easy, being virtually swamped twice now in about six years. I'm helping out and moving down the Texas coast as well, using an Osprey. These things are more fun than I thought they'd be -- guess I know what I'm going to seek qualification for next, most likely. I'm still willing to come back if needed, but right now I'm working along the low-lying coastal areas and helping evacuate as best as I can -- at least the S&R aspects are done for the time being. Banshee out. 2019 * February 25 - "Blockade Running" - Decepticons are attempting to blockade Earth. At least one space merchant is going to run it. Feb 27 - AAR: Near-Earth Orbit << text-only report >> While out and taking some time for myself, my comm-link alerted me to Decepticons attacking the Vilnacron Station in near-orbit. Given the lack of response to the Lazy Sue’s mayday aside from Lieutenant Commander Faireborn aboard the Autobot shuttle Federation and a lone Autobot, I took it upon myself to head up and lend whatever assistance I could – which was admittedly rather minimal. If nothing else, it can now be confirmed that my armor can handle near-Earth orbit and altitudes. The Lazy Sue was ultimately saved, mainly due to the Federation and a very large spacecraft that looked suspiciously like Spaceball-I from the movie – safe bet to say that if any Cybertronians or whatever did try to walk the length of it, they’d take so long that the movie would be over; at least there was no Dark Helmet or Colonel Sandurz or President Skroob that I saw. At any rate, the Lazy Sue was towed safely to Vilnacron Station and I returned to my normal relaxing flight. Second Lieutenant Henshaw, out. << a digital image of Evil Inc.'s Spaceball-I cityformer-sized ship is attached to the text file >> May 20 - Medical Report To: G.I. Joe Command Staff (Rank 7+) From: Remedy (Greenshirt Medic) Subject: Chrysalis Under Quarantine “Under normal circumstances, Doc would be the one making this report, since she witnessed it first-hand, but the past ninety-six hours have been intriguing, to say the least, and she’s kept on top of it. I’ll start with what Doc told me: “Thursday evening at 2000 hours, Doc went to check on First Lt. Lori Henshaw in the Brig, where she quarantined herself within twelve hours of the events in Medical with the alien “Joe” and “Jane” impersonators nine days previously. Doc was originally giving her the once-over, though Lt. Henshaw reported some sort of enhanced “healing”, where her wound from the alien bio-spike completely closed up and healed within thirty-six hours of it; from all indications, the “armor” Lt. Henshaw possesses is similarly repaired of all damage. “Lt. Henshaw reported that she wasn’t consciously aware of the fact that her armor apparently uploaded the specs of Doc’s alien-detector device, and then changed the sense of detection from touch (Doc’s device) to sight. Moreover, the visual capability of the device was not limited to Lt. Henshaw’s armored form – she visually detected the true appearance of “Jane” before the impersonator shifted into its true form. Before she could explain further, Lt. Henshaw suddenly grew extremely ill, staggered from her cot to the far corner from the forcefield barrier, and began to violently retch. “By the time Doc was able to move closer, she observed that Lt. Henshaw was apparently emitting part of the liquid-metal basis of her armored form. Strangely, however, the bio-material began to move as if it had a mind of its own, and began the process of cocooning Lt. Henshaw into a protective chrysalis. Doc’s assumption is that this is the result of the alien genetic material “infecting” Lt. Henshaw’s unique bio-mechanical systems. We have yet to closely examine the chrysalis, and R&D is apparently in an uproar because Doc has excluded them from making any first-hand analysis – this is, apparently, in response to Lt. Henshaw’s discomfort and distrust of R&D in light of the revelations concerning the “Jane” impostor. “Medical was called in, but by the time we arrived on-scene, Lt. Henshaw was completely cocooned within the chrysalis. Doc ordered it moved to the Medical Bay – which took having to cut out portions of the wall and floor from Lt. Henshaw’s cell. The height of the chrysalis was approximately four feet tall when it arrived – apparently Lt. Henshaw was curled up in a fetal position. More than that, I can’t say because this is well outside my area of expertise.” Nathan Brundle Corporal, US Army Jul 11 - Update on Lt. Henshaw To: G.I. Joe Command Staff (Rank 7+) Cc: Doc From: Remedy (Greenshirt Medic) Subject: Chrysalis Update On Doc’s orders, I’ve been occasionally making my way down to the Brig, specifically to the cell from which we initially retrieved First Lt. Henshaw’s chrysalis, so we could keep an eye on it over and above the cameras within the brig cell itself. We’re entering week eight of the chrysalis, and most people would probably say there’s nothing to report. The cameras, at least, don’t pick up anything out of the ordinary. But lately, something hasn’t felt right to me, and recent readings had me scratching my head; to confirm what I was seeing, I grabbed one of the R&D folks – I know Lt. Henshaw hasn’t trusted them, but at this point the R&D crew has been vetted and cleared via Doc’s alien-detector, so I grabbed Geekspeak and brought him with me. He’s got a primary specialty in organic chemistry, so it seemed prudent to have him come along. What we discovered is somewhat concerning. The chrysalis started out at roughly four feet in height, due partially to its’ formation around Lt. Henshaw while she was in a fetal position, and it also incorporated the corner of the brig cell – both the wall and floor. But apparently it’s been busier than we thought, because it’s grown: the chrysalis has doubled in size in eight weeks, and from all indications it’s still growing. In addition, it seems the chrysalis is assimilating the entire corner segment that the chrysalis had originally attached to, in order to fuel this growth. It’s also spreading across the floor around the chrysalis and doing the same. The best estimates we have is that, if you took all the material Lt. Henshaw’s chrysalis has assimilated into itself, it should be larger still than it is. I can’t begin to hazard a guess as to how that’s possible, and neither can Geek. Much as we wish we could give you all answers, Geek and I are at a loss. However, Geek did mention that Lt. Henshaw had seen both First Aid and Brainstorm from the Autobots in the initial days after she had escaped from the rogue Decepticon scientist who had kidnapped and experimented upon her eight years ago. Perhaps we should consider asking them to take a look and see what they think? Just a thought. Nathan Brundle Corporal, US Army Aug 25 - Back Again TO: General Hawk, Duke, Flint CC: Doc; Command Rank (7+) << the camera pops on to reveal Lori Henshaw >> “Yeah, so... I’m awake again now. I thought it was bad when Thunderwing originally kidnapped me and I was out of it for only a week; imagine my surprise to learn I’m three months or so behind the times. Last I remember, I was talking with Doc after voluntarily confining myself to the brig, and then...” Lori shrugs her shoulders. “Well, apparently I’ve been dreaming for the last three months, only to suddenly wake up to find myself near the Air Force Academy in Colorado.” Lori straightens herself up as best as she can in the chair she’s sitting in. “If someone could tell Evac and that security squad that I’m sorry for freaking them out, I’d appreciate it. I only recall brief flashes of what happened – my systems were running in some sort of “safe mode” where it was basic fight-or-flight behavior. Cookie said I didn’t hurt anyone when I left base, which I’m thankful for. But I feel bad about scaring everyone.” She pauses for a moment, as if to collect her thoughts, before continuing. “Right now, I’m in the bio-containment ward in the Medical Center. There’s a LOT of new things popping up in my systems, among other things, but I don’t entirely feel comfortable sharing it like this; mostly because these are the kind of things you have to see to believe. I imagine at some point the Autobots will want to take a look as well – they analyzed the original incarnation of my armor, and it’s drastically altered in both form and function. Plus, I feel like there are things I can only say and do face-to-face; this recording is not the time or place to say most of what I need to say. I will, however, say this much: I don’t want anyone from R&D around me. I have my reasons, and I’ll be happy to discuss them face-to-face. But right now, that’s my stipulation: no R&D.” She leans back in her chair. “You need me, you know where I am.” << the screen abruptly goes blank >> Nov 15 - AAR: South Pole - Cybertron << text message only >> "Yeah, so... back about nine days ago, I accompanied General Hawk and Kamakura to the South Pole of Cybertron at the Autobots' request. Turned out, there was another of those big-bad Dire Wraiths and a bunch of shock troops, heading for some small settlement with little in the way of defenses. While the General and Kamakura took their Kodiak to defend the settlement, I tried to pitch in and help the other Cybertronians. Then some other Cybertronian came through the same portal as the Dire Wraiths -- and she showed as having a Dire Wraith with her. "Not sure what her story is, though, because before I could determine what was going on with her, the shock troops... well, I believe Firster Aid's technical terminology was 'ripped me limb from limb'. I was apparently in five separate pieces, and then was left there for several days while different ones apparently poked and prodded me. I only recently regained consciousness to find myself in Iacon, and from what I gather, I only arrived a couple or three days ago. So... yeah. Guess that's about it." << text message ends >> Players Guardian was created and is played by darksabrz. ---- Category:Air Force Category:Characters Category:Cyborgs Category:Female Characters Category:GI Joe Category:GI Joe Pilots Category:active Category:OCs Category:Humans